Archive for February, 2012

I have been blogging for some time now and I know for a fact that the internet has definitely become a pervasive medium. As a matter of fact, it has been proven to be very valuable and useful tool in various aspects of man’s life. May it be in the field of entertainment, information, communication, and even commerce, the fact that the internet is of great help will always stand. One of the applications of the internet for business and commerce is through internet marketing. I know that for a fact since there are really, really a lot of advertisements that seem to be all over cyberspace. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of internet marketing companies getting into business nowadays because of the high demand for their services. But how do these companies run seo campaigns?

A recent article published by an seo agency states that social networking, link building and providing excellent content is a sure fire way to increase your rankings but the most critical aspect is Page Rank which determines how much authority and trust a website can confer to another site. A simplified equation for Page Rank is as follows:

PR(A) = (1-d) + d(PR(t1)/C(t1) + … + PR(tn)/C(tn))

This is the original equation but it is obvious that the original equation has been tweaked as the years went on by. From the equation, an important element is the amount of “vote sharing” or outbound links a site has. The more links a site gives out, the more diluted each link can confer Page Rank to another site.

Perhaps you have already known this equation. Essentially, search engine optimization is a strategy used in internet marketing with the aim of making your business or website rank higher in the search results page of search engines. As you may know, ranking higher in search results page will give you great leverage over your competitors. This is mainly because it gives you more and better exposure. Of course, the tendency for consumers is to click or follow the links of the businesses that appear higher in the search results page. Thus, this may eventually lead to more sales and better profit for your business.

Every good real estate investing decision I have made is based on both logic and emotion; both head and heart. Maybe I’m particularly disciplined or have a head for numbers, but far too often I come across people (particularly “lifestyle buyers” buying real estate in an exotic country) who let their emotions run away with them. They end up forgetting to run the numbers, ignoring the math and getting completely consumed with the idea of owning a particular property. They become so consumed with this idea of a new lifestyle, that logic goes out of the window.

Too often this ends badly a few years down the line. The property does not perform as they hoped and then end up disappointed with their purchase.

Granted if your looking at real estate in an emerging market such as Nicaragua, Belize or Kenya for example, it can be hard to find reliable data on which to base your investing decisions. Unlike in the US, Canada, or other mature markets, official statistics are not collated centrally and there is often no Multiple Listing Service (see more). It’s practically impossible to find out exactly what properties sold, for what price and for how long they were on the market before they sold.

So in order to let the numbers drive your investment strategy, you have to collect the data yourself. Whenever I am purchasing real estate in a country where it’s hard to get my hands on solid market data, I build out my own spreadsheet of asking prices. I know up front that asking prices are not the same as sales prices, but in a world without official data, they are the next best thing.

There have been many times when collecting the numbers and doing the math have saved me from an expensive mistake. Just last year when researching Nicaragua real estate, I fell in love with an ocean view villa just outside the town of San Juan del Sur. I was so captivated by the view that I almost pulled the trigger on the day I first saw the property. Luckily I managed to restrain myself and spent the next 5 days building a spreadsheet of the asking prices of comparable properties. With these “comps” in hand I quickly realized that the property was overpriced.

I managed to rein set my head into the decision making and stop my heart from taking over.

There’s no arguing the fact that math is the most popular subject in the world. It’s hard to find a career where some basic knowledge or usage of math is not required. Math is also firmly tied to logic. People who are great at math are often able to see logical solutions in complicated solutions. This might sound unimportant until you consider the fact that problem solvers are exactly the kind of people that end up running companies. Learning math can not only improve your own critical thinking abilities, but can prepare you for many scientific careers and further study, in fields such as engineering, particle physics, nuclear technology, greenhouses gases observational sciences and work in many other scientific research facilities across the world. If you wish to improve your skill and knowledge in Math, the following are some important facts that you need to be aware of.

Math Courses are Cumulative.
You can’t expect to be poor at basic math and then great at handling complex equations. It just doesn’t work that way. If you’re going to succeed at math, then you’ll need to have a firm foundation in the basic courses. Start with the easy courses. Review all your math courses beginning with those from your older classes to your current classes. Focus on the areas that you are uncomfortable with. Math’s complexities mean that you may end up struggling in the beginning. But if you stick at it, you’ll find yourself become a better Math’s student.

You need to be involved.
The only way you’ll ever get better at math is if you pick up a pen and work on a couple of problems on your own. Never ignore your maths homework. Instead, make a habit of working on your assignments every day. The longer you spend at math, the easier it will become. You won’t get far by just listening to your instructor during courses. Copy out the examples that your instructor uses and try and rework them in your spare time. Math requires your commitment and involvement. It’s the only way it works.

Understand Why.
Some students fly through their math scores by memorizing dates, formulas or certain rules. You may earn an ‘A’ this way but it won’t make you a better student. In order to become a better maths student, you need to understand why certain formulas are used in different situations. Learning more about the way math problems are solved will teach you how to handle problems of your own. Advanced math problems typically involve dozens of different math formulas at varying stages. Unless you understand what these are and how they work, you’ll find it harder solving practical math applications.

Visualize a Problem: Math is so much more than just numbers. You’ll find it easier handling math problems if you try visualize what you’re doing. Sometimes a math problem might require many long steps. Try and use shortcuts when applicable. This will improve your speed at handling questions and reduce the risk of you getting confused.

Challenge Yourself: So now you’re good at handling certain problems. Don’t stop there. A mathematician’s journey never truly ends. Continue to challenge yourself every day with newer equations. This will increase your speed and improve your confidence in handling advanced questions.

Math has many levels and you will need to study them in a certain order to learn it properly. If you have not had any math since high school, then you should begin with basic introductory classes to trigonometry, algebra and calculus. Once you have overcome these subjects, you can start specializing in any other scientific field that you are interested in, such as greenhouse gas research, physics or astronomy.

Math skills are highly underrated by some people. What they fail to recognize is that expertise in mathematics gained in school can translate into improvements in the quality of your life throughout adulthood. This idea baffles many students, who fail to see the benefits that the math they learn in high school will provide later in life.

Let us look at one typical example as an example – the buying process for a new refrigerator. Too the poorly informed it may seem like there is not much use for mathematics in this decision making process, but this could not be further from the truth!

To start with, when looking at refrigerator reviews – or even just reading a list of specifications – shoppers will be taking in data like width, height, depth, volume. An educated mind is able to tie these together into an underlying whole and understand the mathematics behind them. When math skills are lacking, these will just be a string of numbers.

With adequate math skills one is able to take these numbers extracted from a refrigerators review and tie them back to the dimensions of your kitchen, or of your proposed installation area, and have a full understanding of any limitation that may prohibit the installation of the model under consideration.

Even once you have analyzed refrigerator reviews and decided which model to purchase; mathematics still has a further role to play. Will you pay cash, or will you finance your purchase? If a retailer is offering a great deal on financing so as to move more products, it may make sense to take advantage of low interesting financing.

However, these types of calculations are not simple. To make the right decision the consumers’ needs to have knowledge and awareness of items like discount rates, opportunity costs, percentages, interest rates, finance charges and the like.

While concepts like these are not difficult, a proper understanding does require a solid mathematical background. Decisions on financing are very important as they can potentially cost a buyer hundreds of dollars if poorly made.

Hopefully this example of the use of mathematics in reviewing refrigerators for purchase – and exploring financing options – will demonstrate to teens the need to focus their attention on their math studies while at school.

When you’re thinking of buying something nice for your kitchen and you’re going through websites reading things like espresso machine reviews, the last thing on your mind is probably the amount of precision engineering and math that goes into designing and building these complex beasts.

There are more cups of coffee drunk each day in the USA than the leading brand of cola. But these days a lot of people are taking the wise move of buying a home espresso machine to reduce the cost of their daily coffee.

The very first espresso machine was invented by Luigi Bezzera in 1901 but since then, the technology, engineering and math involved in designing an espresso maker has advanced significantly.

Espresso machines work by forcing hot water through compacted coffee at very high pressure. In particular, super-automatic espresso makers are complex systems which deal with every function from the grinding of the beans to the production of the final espresso. So what things does the engineer have to consider when designing one?

Managing the temperature

Timing

The flow of water in the machine

The physical portafilter design

As you can imagine a good knowledge of math would be essential in designing a system that does all of these things simultaneously. So if you’re interested in going into the world of kitchen appliance design then remember it’s not all about the looks. The engineering of these modern appliances is impressive so stick in at your math class if you want to be the next Luigi Bezzera.

It is sometimes tempting to ignore the huge impact on the everyday word that mathematicians actually have. However there is scarcely an area of science which is not touched by mathematics and the models it produces. Take for example a famous French Mathematician call Joseph Fourier, in 1824 he coined the phrase the ‘greenhouse effect’ in order to describe certain observations he had documented.

Fourier calculated that the temperature of planet Earth was incorrect. He used mathematics to prove that if the Earth was only warmed by the Suns Rays, then it should be considerably cooler than it was. There was another factor effecting the overall temperature of the Earth, the phrase greenhouse effect is now part of everyday speech. The warming, insulation effect of greenhouse gasses has become possibly the most important challenge facing the human race today. Without Fourier and the mathematicians who followed him then we would have little warning about the devastating consequences that face us unless we adapt a much more eco friendly way of living on this planet.

It might not look like the key to solving one of the Earths most pressing problems –

(Greenhouse Law for CO2) ∆F = α ln(C/C0)

But the Greenhouse Law developed from Fourier’s original findings is very valid today and forms the core of the studies of environmental scientists trying to study the causes and effects of climate change. The law was discovered by a Swedish scientist called Svante August Arrhenius who started by developing a theory to explain the Ice Ages.

He spent his latter years working out the mathematical model that would describe our problem and perhaps lead to a solution. By developing a formula to illustrate temperature change that is caused by the changes in the amount of Carbon Dioxide – he has illustrated the sheer scale of our issue. The formula and the change in CO2 that is required to modify the Earths temperature is core to our efforts. This core mathematical model of climate change will in the years to come touch all our lives.